6913G626Q300047 PCBOOM and AAM Support_SOW.pdf

RFQ No. 6913G626Q300047

Statement of Work

Advanced Acoustic Model Development and : Demonstrate Conceptual Tool to Predict Sonic Boom Footprints over a Range of Meteorological Conditions

Background

The Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) and the Department of War (DoW) / Department of Defense (DoD) in general have interest in utilizing the nations airspace for strategic military operations. This includes conducting aircraft operational and training missions to the full extent possible and increasing the launch cadence of rocket propelled air and spacecraft for payload transportation. Increased community exposure to aircraft noise, rocket propulsion noise and sonic booms is an impedement to these goals.

Providing updated aircraft noise models and new noise modeling workflows to the planners’ toolset will assist in maximizing air and spacecraft missions.

One key use case for these tools is the ability to model aircraft operational and training missions near communities. The Volpe Center’s Advanced Acoustic Model (AAM) provides the most advanced aircraft noise modeling capabilities to accurately determine noise exposure to communities. Utilizing accurate tools allows for the maximization of operations without exceeding community limits. However, AAM requires code improvements to increase its performance and security so that the DoW can utilize this tool to the maximum extent possible.

Another key use case for these noise tools is the ability to predict rocket sonic boom noise impacts over a range meteorological conditions, for example, Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) has indicated a need to understand better potential noise impacts of ascent sonic booms on mainland California and the Channel Islands due to launches at the Western Range. While VSFB currently uses noise measurements as an aid to predict future noise impacts, comprehensive measurements are costly in both time and money and are less useful than noise modeling for decision making. BRRC has developed a process to model sonic boom propagation through the atmosphere under a statistically significant range of historical meteorological conditions. By modeling noise exposure over a range of weather conditions, planners can make more informed decisions on launch windows that will minimize noise exposure.

Scope In coordination with the Volpe Center the contractor shall assist the Volpe Center in the development of the next public release of AAM and shall demonstrate a conceptual tool to predict sonic boom impacts based on historical atmospheric data and show how the tool can be used to convey the variability of potential impacts in a readily understandable format for VSFB leadership and the public. This work is described in detail in the following tasking.

Tasking

Task 1: Monthly Reporting The vendor shall provide a monthly progress report in PDF format on the 15th of each month, including the first month of award and concluding in the final month of award, estimated to be June 2027. This monthly progress report shall include discussion of deliverable progress and issues along with a summary of any lessons learned. Monthly spend information and funds remaining will also be summarized in the monthly progress report.

Task 2: Advanced Acoustic Model Development The contractor shall execute exactly 6 four-week DevOps sprints (23 hours each) between contract award and January 31, 2027. For each sprint, the contractor shall provide a dedicated team consisting of [1 Chief Scientist and 1: Principal Engineer / Senior Fortran Developer]. The fixed price per sprint shall be inclusive of all code updates, code reviews, and repository management completed within that sprint period as described in A to D below. The contractor shall work within the Volpe Center AAM Dev Ops project and AAM GitHub repository structure. :

A. Code Updates / Bug Fixes / Maintenance. As part of each sprint, in coordination with the Volpe Center and the DoW, bugs shall be identified, prioritized , and fixed according to the prioritization. Identified improvements to code accuracy and performance will also be implemented.

B. Source Code Review. As part of each sprint, the contractor shall review code changes that have been made to ensure viability, to preserve historical context where necessary, and to prevent any unintended consequence with the various AAM run streams. This is a critical component of the development and requires intimate knowledge of the code base and its historical evolution.

C. Software Repository and Test Case Updates. As part of each sprint, code updates shall be uploaded to the GitHub repository, and test cases shall be uploaded to the Volpe Huddle (or equivalent) repository. Uploads to the repositories shall take place when each user story or task is completed / bug is fixed and such uploads will reference the pertinent DevOps ID.

D. One-on-one Coding Sessions. As part of each sprint, virtual live sessions shall be conducted to review code, develop bug fix strategies, discuss proposed and enacted modifications and to coordinate developer software use (e.g. compiler settings, optimization nuances, GIT interfaces, repositories etc.)

Deliverables: 6 four-week DevOps sprints (sub-tasks A to D). Tasks 2.A to 2.D are expected to be completed by January 31, 2027.

Task 3: AAM User Base Technical Support The contractor shall support the Volpe Center in assessing / diagnosing and strategizing and developing responses to submitted AAM user base questions. This task may include identifying and applying existing test cases from AAMSTER or developing new test cases.

Technical support shall be capped at 27 hours. This task is expected to be completed by May 14, 2027.

Task 4: Demonstrate Conceptual Tool to Predict Sonic Boom Footprints over a Range of Meteorological Conditions The contractor shall develop a demonstration for a conceptual tool that can be used to predict sonic boom contours for a range of meteorological conditions. The demonstration will show probability contours that communicate the geographic extents where the sonic boom may exceed key thresholds, such as 4 psf for hearing conservation and structural damage. The contractor shall complete the following tasks:

A. Calculate Sonic Boom Impacts. The contractor shall compile historical atmospheric data within the areas impacted by launch operations at VSFB and compute sonic boom impacts for twice-daily atmospheric conditions for at least one year to support predictions of key criteria.

Deliverables: Kick-off Meeting, Atmospheric Data, Sonic Boom Impact Contours

B. Demonstrate a Conceptual Sonic Boom Impact Tool. The contractor shall demonstrate how a conceptual sonic boom impact tool could be used to model two launch trajectories (e.g. polar launch over Channel Islands and a high inclination launch near the coastline), over a range of historical atmospheric conditions. The contractor shall develop methods to visualize sonic boom impact probability in a manner that will be readily understood by planners and the community. The final product will demonstrate how sonic boom impacts may vary within a chosen time window and illustrate how to incorporate results into a go/no-go criteria.

Deliverables: Presentation, Virtual or In-person Meeting, Results for Two Scenarios

C. Outline Future Tool. Based on feedback received, the contractor shall outline key characteristics of a fully-featured tool for use in go/no-go decision making and public outreach. These characteristics will include desired input parameters, modeling fidelity, and visualization options.

Deliverables: Memo Documenting Tool Requirements

The results of this demonstration will provide a comprehensive set of sonic boom impact contours for two key operations over a year of historical meteorological conditions, which will illustrate potential sonic boom impacts, and their variability. The statistics-based modeling methodology developed under this effort may be leveraged by the Volpe Center and the DoW and other industry practitioners.

Tasks 4A to 4C are expected to be completed within 6 months of notice to proceed.

Deliverables and Due Dates Below find a listing of project deliverables and due dates. All work is expected to conclude by June 30, 2027.

CLIN TASK DESCRIPTION DELIVERABLE

DUE

DATE

00100 1.0 Monthly Reporting

Monthly Progress Report

15th of Each

Month through completion

00200 2.A Code Updates / Bug Fixes / Maintenance

Code Updates 01-31-27

CLIN TASK DESCRIPTION DELIVERABLE

DUE

DATE

2.B Source Code Review

Verbal or written explanation of issues

01-31-27

2.C

Software Repository and Test Case Updates

Code and Test Case Updates

01-31-27

2.D One-on-one Coding Sessions

Monthly Meetings 01-31-27

00300 3 AAM User Base Technical Support

Technical Support, Test Cases

5-14-27

00400

4A Calculate Sonic Boom Impacts

Kick-off meeting

Within 2 weeks of notice to proceed

(NTP)

4.A Calculate Sonic Boom Impacts

Atmospheric Data, Sonic Boom Impact Contours

Within 3 months of

NTP

4.B

Demonstrate a Conceptual Sonic Boom Impact Tool

Presentation, Virtual or In-person Meeting

Within 5 months of

NTP

4.B

Demonstrate a Conceptual Sonic Boom Impact Tool

Results for Two Scenarios

Within 5 months of

NTP

4.C

Demonstrate a Conceptual Sonic Boom Impact Tool

Memo Documenting Tool Requirements

Within 6 months of

NTP

*All electronic deliverables will be emailed to the Volpe Center technical point of contact

(TPOC).

Task 4: Demonstrate Conceptual Tool to Predict Sonic Boom Footprints over a Range of Meteorological Conditions